Woman who became world's oldest doctor dies at 114

AP: Dr. Leila Denmark, the world's oldest practicing physician when she retired at age 103, died Sunday in Athens, her family members said. She was 114. "The kids would come in and she would spend as much time as she needed with the parents to help fix that baby or that child," said her grandson, Steve Hutcherson, "What she would do is figure out how to help them stay well."

Lynn Johnson/ handout via EPA

Dr. Leila Denmark examines a child in the 1990s, in Athens, Georgia. Denmark died 01 April 2012 at the age of 114. Denmark, a pediatrician, practiced medicine for more than 70 years, until she retired in 2001 at the age of 103.

She treated some of Atlanta's poorest children as a volunteer at the Central Presbyterian Baby Clinic near the state capitol in Atlanta, said her daughter, Mary Hutcherson of Athens. Mill workers and other poor people who had no other way to get medical care would bring their sick children to the clinic.

Denmark Family handout via EPA

Dr. Leila Denmark and her husband Eustace Denmark.

"She absolutely loved practicing medicine more than anything else in the world," said another grandson, Dr. James Hutcherson of Evergreen, Colo. "She never referred to practicing medicine as work." Full story

Trevor Frey / Athens Banner Herald via EPA

Dr. Leila Denmark (R) listens to her grand niece Jackie Bennett as she celebrates her 110th birthday in 2008.